Where Did Your Fertilizer Come From?

If it’s not water, you better track it!

As a licensed cultivator, you’re required to keep track of anything you add to your plants, such as fertilizer, pest control, or nutrients. You need to record what you’re adding and how much. Check out section 231 (1) (c) of the Cannabis Regulations to see exactly what Health Canada requires!

At CertiCraft, we also ask for the Lot Number of the input that you are adding to your plants. This isn’t a government requirement – so why do we ask for it?

Suppose something went wrong at one of your suppliers’ facilities. For example, you bought some fertilizer with an  NPK ratio of 1-8-1. Then, after you’ve used it for a couple of weeks (and thrown out the empty container), your plants aren’t growing how you expected them to… and you get an email from your supplier saying that they are recalling a mislabelled batch that said 1-8-1 but should have said 8-1-1!

The only way to prove that you were affected by an issue like this is to track the lot numbers of the products that you are using. Mistakes like this can ruin an entire batch for you through no fault of your own. You may not even realize why it was ruined, thinking that you were the one who did something wrong.

We want to make sure you always know what’s going into your plants and, more importantly, that you can prove it in case there’s a recall, insurance claim, or other unfortunate accident. It may save you a ton of headaches.

So, to help our customers, we included the Lot Number category.  If you choose not to use it, or the product doesn’t have a lot of numbers (for example, a bunch of ladybugs your neighbour raised), you can put N/A.

Curious to learn more about feeding your plants nutrients? Check out The State of Craft episode 9 with Sandra and Remo Colasanti.

This article was written in tandem with Mike F.